


Subpoena

by taeku



Series: Epiphaneia [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, M/M, Mention of blood, Mild Sexual Content, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:21:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26267158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeku/pseuds/taeku
Summary: For the last time, Jaehyun takes joy out of small things he knows he won’t be able to have, maybe ever again.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Series: Epiphaneia [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908391
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25





	Subpoena

**Author's Note:**

> so, here i come again, with. something  
> take this as prologue for my new up coming series, so don't mind me being a bit, scriptic  
> each new work will focus on different pairings and i hope to do a decent job at relating the evolution of the story from different point of views  
> hope you enjoy the ride with me pals
> 
> ps : i made this universe mine, crossed different things together, so if you don't like how i portrayed my characters, you can kindly exit :)

_The grass is cold under his feet._

_It’s cold and sharp, cutting his skin on every step. His lungs are burning from running, burning from the frozen air, burning from the spell in his blood._

_Has he been running for long, he can’t tell. Has it been hours, or minutes? Or has he just started moving?_

_His brain is foggy, dizzy with pain and hallucinations, voices telling him things he doesn’t want to hear, doesn’t want to know._

_“Broke it” they whisper. “You broke it”._

_He doesn’t want the pain, doesn’t want the punishment. He hasn’t done anything wrong, he tells himself. He’s innocent and doesn’t understand why he’s being punished for something that was never wrong. But it doesn’t matter. He runs, and runs, and runs. Will run until his legs give up on him and let him fall on the ground. Hopefully then, the pain will be gone. Hopefully then, he would have been pitied and given mercy_.

_But the gods aren’t in his favor tonight. The grass is cold under his feet and branches slap his face as he makes his way through the forest, looking for a sign. Any sign to prove he hasn’t been abandoned by his heart. But the forest is silent, steady. As if all its life had been taken away. Silent hands look at him, attached to trees, frozen in time._

_And he wants to cry, wants to scream and fall into the lack. Let the sirens take him into the abyss of water and make a feast out of his flesh. That too, doesn’t happen. It doesn’t happen because something slams him against a tree, cutting his breath short._

_Gasping, he falls on the ground, his entire body in pain._

_Broke it, broke it, broke it, broke it, they chant in his head._

_“I haven’t done anything” he begs, tears falling down his cheeks, into the ground. “Please, please, please” he continues. “We didn’t do anything”._

_Why are you doing this, he asks, but silence and pain are the only answers he gets. The last thing his eyes catch before darkness takes over is a snowflake, slowly dancing down. A snowflake, and figures standing all around him, looking down at his dying body._

_Tonight’s the first snow. An important part of his family’s tradition._

_“Tell them” he wants to say, staring at the yellow eyes hiding behind bushes. “Tell them we didn’t do anything wrong, that’ it’s allowed”. But his body is too weak, his brain too foggy, the voices too loud._

_Tonight’s the first snow, and as his eyes close for the last time, he knows he will never have the opportunity to look at it. Ever again._

-

There isn’t much left to see about the world when you’ve lived a hundred lives.

Jaehyun lived those hundreds of lives and more. Saw every part of the world, every civilization, every changes up to a certain point. He wasn’t supposed to, but living life the way he does means being met with inconveniences. Damages. Curses. 

Looking at the town he grew up in, up in the hills, he feels nothing. At least nothing that matters. Not anymore. Those buildings covering his first memories, those lacs and forest that were created by humans and their selfish desires. Lives erasing those before them. Jaehyun smiles to himself. Smiles because the town he once knew turned into a city with hundreds of people he didn’t know.

But that’s ok. Knowing people doesn’t matter to him anymore.

Getting back into his car, he clenches his hands around the steering wheel. Eighty years. Both long and fast at the same time. The right amount of time for people he knew to die or forget about him, the right amount of time for the city to change without being completely different. A right balance, it seems so.

It takes around thirty minutes for him to get back to his old house, the one he kept for his entire life, the one his father and uncles built for him, a long, long time ago. It smells bad, when he comes in. Like dust and musty smell and death. There is dirt everywhere. On the sofas, the desks, the balconies.

Jaehyun smiles again. This time, sincere. God, did he miss this place.

Walking up the stairs, he looks around, searching for any damages, any intruders, undesirables.

What he finds instead are his old books, still in place in the library, the office, his room. He opens the windows on his way, trying to clear the air as much as he can before the night falls and shadows come. Lazily, he lets his fingers trail on the books’ covers, feeling their age, their words. Jaehyun always liked books. Liked the feeling of paper between his fingers, the smell of it. Liked to learn from them the most, like his uncle taught him to.

He lets his eyes wander on words that no longer exist in this time, words that no one can understand anymore, words too powerful to be said out loud. Jaehyun says them anyways, letting the magic grow around him, taking its rightful place in the world.

His hair stands on the back of his neck when he least expects it. His back is turned toward the open door, where he can feel something, hear a small guttural noise. Letting go of the book he had in hands, he smirks. He doesn’t have time to turn around before a mass falls on him, heavy and hard. Jaehyun groans, hands coming forward to protect his neck.

Rolling around, avoiding teeth trying to shred his skin, he pushes his energy out, filling the room with a thin blue dust. It smells of chrysanthemum, suddenly, the air brimming with it. The beast above him ceases to growl then, fur shivering, eyes blinking. It takes a couple of seconds, but its size flattens then, turning from what looked like a bear to a small feline figure. A small noise gets out of its throat again, but it’s not menacing this time. It’s soft and happy, almost. Welcoming.

Jaehyun laughs under his breath, hands cupping the creature’s head, scratching.

“Welcome home buddy” he chuckles, looking at the fire in the creature’s eyes decrease “Missed me much?”

-

Jaehyun doesn’t use magic to clean his place.

He could, if he wanted to. There’s nothing simpler than manipulating the energy around him, make the dust fall out of the windows, turn the small animals’ dead bodies into air, make the wood crack. But it’s too simple, impersonal. Jaehyun likes to touch things, likes to communicate with his surroundings. He likes, most of all, rewinding his memories, the ones he kept in the walls as a reminder.

He takes his time to clean. Slowly works his body into the rooms, cleaning what matters the most first. The master bedroom, the kitchen, the living room. His office. He doesn’t need to check the hidden rooms as he knows the house is perfectly capable of taking care of those on its own.

Jaehyun doesn’t use magic and it takes six days to clean the entire house. Cons of having a big property. But it’s fine because in those six days it took for him to reconnect with it, the garden grew back, the small forest went a glowing green again, birds came to sing at his windows. It’s his way of sending a message, also. To everyone it might mean something to.

Jaehyun was back home.

On the seventh day, someone he doesn’t recognize comes to his door, a small paper in hands. From where he’s perched, on his window sill, Jaehyun can smell them, young and strong and proud. An undertone of something like niaouli caresses his nostrils, and a small smile appears at the corner of his lips. When they look up to him, eyes locking together, a small smile perks on their lips, too. They hold up the paper.

Closing the book he was reading, Jaehyun gets back inside, his familiar flying to the crook of his neck from the cushion it was sleeping on, hiding under the collar of his shirt. When he opens the front door, they’re waiting for him on the last stair step. Their eyes are shiny, small dots dancing in their pupils. The niaouli scent is stronger up close, and Jaehyun takes it all in.

“Hello Jaehyun” they speak, and their voice is smooth, on the higher side “My name’s Chenle. Doyoung sent me as a runner”

Jaehyun looks at Chenle for a couple more seconds, watching as the sun reflects on his white hair, before he slides on his left, offering the younger to enter his house. Thanking him, Chenle takes a step forward, eyes analysing every centimetre of the place.

“Would you like something to drink?” Jaehyun asks, walking towards the kitchen. His familiar burrs against his collarbone, answering for itself. Smirking, Jaehyun opens a cabinet before taking a small bottle in between his fingers. He shakes it a little before pouring some of the yellowish beverage into a small cup, on the table.

Chenle enters after him, hands in his jeans pocket.

“Thank you, but I can’t stay long” he speaks, watching as Jaehyun’s familiar starts lapping at its beverage “The coven’s been busy lately and Doyoung has ask me to cover up some things for him”

Jaehyun gives a small hum as he sits down, acknowledging Chenle’s words.

“Are you part of the coven permanently?” he asks, his eyes going up and down the younger’s body.

“Yes. Doyoung took me in when I was eight”

Jaehyun’s eyebrows jerks at the mention, but he stays silent, slowly drinking his own beverage. His gaze doesn’t leave Chenle, eyes taking notes of every body movements, every jerks of lips, every glance at the windows. He wants to asks why so young, wants to asks about the rest of his family and the reason why they left him, but he stays silent, heaviness in his chest. Now is not the time for secrets.

“How old are you now?”

“Forty”

Jaehyun’s quick to hide his surprise behind the blink of his eyes. _This long,_ he thinks, before taking another sip. Taking his familiar in hand, he watches as it shifts form again, looking out the window, fur shivering. Forty, Chenle had said. Forty, when he looks like he’s only nineteen. Witches are peculiar beings, Jaehyun knows. But sometimes, strangest anomalies happen, either it be by cursed bloodlines or specific birth times. Jaehyun wonders if Chenle’s curse is the reason his body is stuck in time.

Jaehyun asks about the coven then, learns about the new witches, the new teachers, the town’s political state. He learns about humans getting braver as years pass, trying to trespass on their territory, forcing non-human creatures to step out of their hiding so they could be exposed to the rest of the world. And as time passes, Jaehyun notices Chenle getting paler, eyes frequently looking out the kitchen’s window, hands tight on his laps.

Jaehyun knows the reason for the younger tensed body isn’t their conversion, but something happening outside, something only Chenle and his familiar can see, as the latter’s fur is shivering more intensely each minute. Maybe now is the time to cut things up.

“I won’t take any more of your time” he says, taking Doyoung’s message in hand “Thank you for delivering”

Offering the younger a small smile, Jaehyun stretches his hand forward, offering an explicit exit Chenle is quick to take. 

-

The coven is still like Jaehyung left it. Still bright white, still imposing, still full of young witches playing around.

Jaehyun missed the smell of it. Missed the mix of scents and powers and familiars. It’s not as strong as it used to be, though. There used to be more of them, he realises. Jaehyun puts it in the fact that less and less witches join covens, preferring the anonymity of their home, the liberty of not following strict rules, the safety of their family. But it’s still here, even weakened, the connection between their magic, in the air, pulsing against his own, warm.

Walking through the corridors, he listens to the young witches, their laughs and running feet, all around him. He takes the time to look inside of one of the rooms, curiosity strong. A small group of seven apprentices is on the ground, books open in between their legs, eyes fixed on their instructor. Jaehyun doesn’t know who the woman is, but he feels her power dancing around her, an undertone of evening primrose oil evading from her skin.

He doesn’t stay long enough to catch the subject of the class, though, because his familiar starts busing against his neck, a desire to keep going. He’s about to take his next steps upstairs when something feels off. His familiar, now on the brink of his shoulder, starts shifting, growing as his growls get deeper. Slowly, Jaehyun turns over, eyes searching for something he can’t quite put a feeling on when a tall figure appears in front of him.

“Jung Jaehyun” they say, all smiles and pretty sparkling eyes.

The tension doesn’t leave his shoulders as he nods, eyes scanning. Soft pink hair, full red lips and heterochromatic eyes full of dancing stars and shadows is all Jaehyun can think about at the moment, and if he was younger and less powerful, he might have been fooled by the stranger’s magic.

“May I know who you are?” he asks, dismissing the charm with a blink of his eyes.

“Na Jaemin” says the stranger, smile turning into a smirk “We finally meet”

There’s something different about that boy Jaehyun can’t put a name on. Something like a linger under the skin, a caress that could, if you’re not paying attention, kill you. His familiar hasn’t stopped growling, fur spiking. Jaehyun pushes his magic into it, trying to have it relax. He doesn’t know who that boy is nor what he wants with him, but if Doyoung trusted him enough to be around the coven, or even be part of it, he could do the same. Probably.

“You can tell your familiar I won’t hurt it” Jaemin says, smiling still, hands behind his back “I only hurt the dark ones”

This makes Jaehyun tick. There aren’t any dark familiar, only bad witches with bad magic and dark intentions. But he stays silent, pushing more of his magic into his familiar.

“It can understand you perfectly” he says though, smile cold.

Jaemin doesn’t seem to pay any attention to his words, eyes still fixed on his familiar. Clinging his fists, Jaehyun takes a look around the suddenly empty corridor.

“I’ve heard a lot about you” Jaemin says all of a sudden, eyes moving to his face, shadows vivid in his brown eye “Doyoung speaks an awful lot about you”

“Speaking of which, where is he? I need to talk to him” Jaehyun says back, not willing to continue this interaction more than necessary. He figured ignoring the boy’s words would be the good approach to have him bend, or at least to not fall into his natural trap.

Jaemin must see his unwillingness to be around him, as his smile turns more vicious at the corners. Still, his eyes don’t lose their spark, stars still dancing in them.

“Come on now Jaehyun, you’re a very powerful witch, aren’t you?” he purrs, the pick of his teeth biting at his bottom lip “How can you not sense him?”

Jaehyun hadn’t noticed Jaemin approaching him before the scent of wisteria clashes on him, nose full of it.

“Enough, Jaemin”

Turning over, away from the spell, Jaehyun sees Doyoung coming down his way. Even after many years, Doyoung hasn’t changed one bit. Same old black hair, same tired eyes, same strong figure. Jaehyun smiles to himself. The potion really is a success.

“Go back to class now, will you” Doyoung speaks to Jaemin, eyes narrowed, hands linked behind his back.

Jaemin doesn’t say anything back but turns his gaze to Jaehyun one last time before winking at him. When he turns around, leaving with a flying gait, the wave of wisteria comes dancing around Jaehyun one last time before it vanishes for good.

His familiar doesn’t quite calm down, but it stops growling once Jaemin’s out of sight, lost in the corridors. Jaehyun turns his attention to Doyoung then, eyes questioning but face neutral. Doyoung stares at him too, for a couple of seconds, before he turns back up.

“Follow me” he says, voice lazy, but Jaehyun knows what’s hiding behind it.

Doyoung’s office isn’t hidden, per say, but it requires some magic to be able to find it on your own. Jaehyun doesn’t need to use his as Doyoung walks him in. The moving room is, and probably will always be, one of Jaehyun’s pride. He started developing this magic when he was still a young man, as a way to hide secrets and items he didn’t want anyone to have access to. Seeing it being used by others systematically made his chest grow. 

As he takes a seat on the chair situated in front of Doyoung’s old fashioned desk, his familiar flies around the room, perching itself at the top of one of the bookshelves.

“Your familiar is a real pain in the ass” Doyoung says, eyeing it, bitterness in his voice “Bite my finger off when I tried to come clean your house”

“Did it now” Jaehyun says, smiling. It doesn’t surprise him much, but he doesn’t speak on it. His familiar’s always been overly protective of its territory, and Jaehyun had given it the order to protect the house while he was gone, no matter who entered. Doyoung, while being one of the person Jaehyun was the closest to, was no exception.

“I had to grow it back” Doyoung pouts, hands fisting on their own “ _That_ was painful”

Jaehyun laughs under his breath, but the seriousness in Doyoung’s eyes doesn’t leave much of a doubt as to why he asked him to meet. As much as he wished to be here out of casualty, it wasn’t the case. Doyoung gathers his thoughts for a second before staring right up into Jaehyun’s eyes.

“I’m sorry if this isn’t the welcome you were expecting” he starts, eyes no longer sparkling “And believe me when I say I wished for a better way to greet you, but we’re entering a crisis”

Jaehyun didn’t expect anything coming back. He’s used to this, used to say goodbye for an unknown amount of time and come back as if nothing had happened. He’s not big on formalities, at least not as much. But the seriousness Doyoung is showing him isn’t a sign he particularly likes.

“What kind of crisis?” Jaehyun wonders, crossing his legs.

Jaehyun’s been through a lot of crises, whether they were human related or not. He’s known more battles than he wished he did, faced more hardship and desolation than anyone he’s crossed paths with. He considers himself competent in dealing with these situations. But there’s a feeling in his guts that tells him that this time, things might be different. May it be by what he heard while traveling, or by what he saw.

“You might already know” Doyoung speaks again “But the young witches lack control over their powers more and more” looking down at his desk, a cold laugh slipping through his lips, Doyoung looks more bitter than Jaehyun’s ever seen him “And that’s if they’re born with powers to begin with”.

Looking back up, Doyoung searches for answers in Jaehyun’s eyes.

“Our coven is weak, Jaehyun, weaker than it’s ever been, even during the big hunt. We don’t birth witches anymore, but humans. None of the big families have had a descent born in generations, none of the young witches we see here can manifest their powers fully”.

Jaehyun knows all of this, of course he does. Every coven he’s visited, every witch he came in contact with, all of them are telling him the same things Doyoung says right now.

“We also have human problems” Doyoung continues “They’re getting more and more curious as days pass. We’ve had them stepping too deep inside the forest. Some of them even tried to enter this place. And on top of that, there’s a rumour about hunters coming our way”

Doyoung takes a quick breath, hands tightening. He looks away from Jaehyun, into the void of his own mind and stays silent for a bit. Then, when he looks up again, his eyes reveal nothing but fear and incomprehension. Things Jaehyun rarely saw Doyoung feel, let alone express.

“What I am about to tell you must stay in secrecy” he speaks, voice slow and measured, like he fears calling for something dangerous. Jaehyun nods, breathe slow. Whatever Doyoung is about to tell him, Jaehyun knows to not take it lightly. Not after all the other revelations.

“I believe there’s a disease killing us”

Jaehyun feels his blood turn into ice. Feels his heart stop beating, his hands becoming clammy. He believes he knows what Doyoung is talking about, but waits for his friend to speak again.

“Not just us, but our community. I know it sounds crazy, but Jaehyun” Doyoung says, blinking “I saw it. To witches and vampires. I saw something that wasn’t our doing” he continues “I saw witches turn into demons and vanishing into thin air because their powers consumed them. I saw vampires turning bloodthirsty with no amount of blood enough to sustain them.”

And Jaehyun knows. Saw it happen too, without knowing how to explain it. Saw it happen in a village, not long after he left this city, eighty years ago. He thought it was bad magic manipulation, at the time, but with Doyoung exposing the issue in a different way, he can see it now. Can see that magic, even in his deepest, darkest ways, could not affect them that way.

“What about werewolves?”

Doyoung shakes his head. Werewolves are very secretive creatures, only showing themselves when they really need to. It’s not surprising for his friend to not know how this, disease, if it really is one, affects them.

“I have no idea how and _if_ it affects them” Doyoung says, his face turning dark “The last pack left a couple of years ago, before I could ask questions”

Jaehyun asks why, but doesn’t get an answer. Instead, Doyoung gets up from his chair to take a piece of parchment resting on one of his books.

“Vampires asked for a meeting, two nights from today” he says, giving the paper to Jaehyun “I would like you to come with me and talk about what you saw, or learned while you were away”

Jaehyun accepts without a word. There are things more important coming their way than fights amount clans. If things are really starting to get serious, for every species, if there’s really a new threat, fighting against themselves won’t solve anything. It would only bring them into extinction quicker.

“Are we still at war?” he asks, taking the paper in hand, mind going icy as he recognizes the writing.

“When did we ever know peace?”

They don’t stay in Doyoung’s office more after this, the latter needing to meet someone soon. Nonetheless, they take the time to walk around the coven a bit, Jaehyun learning about the new teachers, the new rules, the new dynamic. Jaehyun likes it, the feeling in his chest as he listens to Doyoung speak about their necromancy studies and how students play jokes every few weeks.

Looking around at the young witches surrounding, Jaehyun asks the question that’s been running over and over in the back of his mind.

“Where are their familiars?”

Back when he was a young witch and even back a couple of hundreds of years back, every witch had a familiar. It was like a symbol, a ritual you had to perform in order to prove you were worthy of your powers and place in the community. Now, though, Jaehyun sees less and less witches accompanied. 

“The younger witches don’t use familiars the same way we used to” Doyoung answers, and Jaehyun looks at him questionably.

“They’re seeing them as equals now, not just weapons” Doyoung elaborates, and Jaehyun hums.

His familiar buzzes against his neck. Jaehyun doesn’t say it at loud, but it’s probably for the best. Familiars aren’t what witches think they are. Back in time, familiars were summoned as a way to gain more power. The bigger your familiar, the bigger your place in the circle was. You gained extra points if the demon you took for familiar was ancient and powerful enough to destroy entire nations with a blink of an eye.

None were powerful enough to do so, though, and even if they could summon ancient creatures, they were never strong enough to control them correctly. A lot of today’s history known by humans were caused by summoning that went wrong. The disappearance of nation, the natural catastrophise, the wars. All of this because earth needed to rebalance itself.

It brings him back to his own familiars, and the way he treated them. The differences he feels now that he’s lived long enough to learn more, see more, feel more. Seeing this new world makes his chest fill with pride he’s not sure to understand, but doesn’t try to fight.

When he steps out of the coven and tells his goodbyes to Doyoung, Jaehyun, from the corner of his eyes, sees Jaemin and Chenle on the rooftop, staring down at him, hands tied together, a snake lazily traveling from Jaemin’s arm to Chenle’s. Not knowing why, Jaehyun shivers.

He leaves the coven with the burning sensation of eyes on his back.

-

There was never any peace between species.

Jaehyun believes it comes from the very reason they’re here in the first place. Earth created them for a reason and they had to fight to survive, to gain its favour, to not be wiped out like other species before them. Jaehyun saw it, back in time. Saw centaurs and sirens be ripped open and forget. Saw Nephilim and deities fade into the air.

Earth gives and it takes back whatever, whenever.

And it’s happening again, Jaehyun believes. Earth is pushing its last battle towards them, as a last chance for them to gain their right to stay. Jaehyun feels it as less and less witches are born or given mediocre powers, as vampires fail to be reborn, as werewolves are losing themselves to their beasts. And when worthy new-borns come to them, there is something different about them.

It’s scaring their world. None of them want to be wiped out, none of them want to see their clans being decimated and lost. It’s breaking the very thin accords the clans established, at their beginning. It’s shattering the small balance and creating tensions that lead to fights, and even more death on them. 

Chiefs clans are debating telling their people about all this. They’re debating to avoid chaos and irreparable mistakes. They’re meeting and telling about their clans’ statues, about how many survived and how many died. And as time passes, as they witness the deterioration of their lives, they came to the same vision. They needed to unionise to survive. Because vampires can’t live without witches. Because werewolves are an important part of witches’ magic. Because they were a package and needed to realise it before it’s too late.

Hunters were the key.

-

Tonight’s not a red moon, yet witches and vampires meet.

For it to be fair and secured, the meeting takes place in a neutral environment, away from witches and vampires’ territories. A long time ago, they agreed the woods were the perfect balance, because all of them needed it at some point. Fighting over something this strong and powerful seemed like a waste of time for everyone.

The forest they once knew was changed by humans, as time passed, but the clans always made sure the centre of it was never touched, as it was the most important part of it. This is where they’re meeting tonight, as the moon rises to its higher points.

Jaehyun stays in the back, Doyoung walking in the circle first, soon followed by Chenle and Jaemin. Jaehyun was more than surprised to see the young witches joining them for this, but Doyoung had sent him a look, telling him not to ask questions. So Jaehyun didn’t.

“What about Sicheng?” he had asked instead, but Doyoung's face paled, his eyes reflecting so much hurt that Jaehyun backed off, a weird feeling in his chest.

So many things had changed, he told himself, on the way to the forest. So many things changed in such a short amount of time, but maybe it was his fault for not keeping contact. Maybe, if he had sent birds, he would have known what happened in the coven when his eyes weren’t there to see. But it’s too late for stories now.

Vampires come not long after that, so silent they wouldn’t have known they arrived if the forest didn’t talk to them. Four of them were present. Four vampires for four witches. Balanced. Jaehyun knew all of them. Some more than others, but he still knew not to act lightly. Ten is the first vampire his eyes see, soon followed by Kunhang and their youngest, Jeno.

He feels it before he sees it, the last body coming their way. He feels the cold, the darkness, the strength capable of many things. And when Jaehyun’s eyes fall on him, the forest shivers, knowing.

“Why is he here?” Jaehyun asks no one in particular, chin neglectingly showing at Yukhei, standing at the back.

“Why couldn’t he be here?” Ten asks, a small smile on his face, eyes knowing too much, too. And Jaehyun doesn't like that.

“It’s supposed to be Johnny here, not him” Jaehyun says, lay back, but blood still running in his ears. Consuls are strict, installed in old rules time will never be able to shatter. The change in members only means one thing, a thing Jaehyun isn’t sure he’s ready to acknowledge. Especially knowing things changed in their circle, too.

The corner of Ten’s mouth falls, his eyes going darker. Glancing at Doyoung, they exchange silent words Jaehyun wished he knew how to comprehend. He feels uneasy, suddenly. Uneasy in his own circle, his own skin. Everything feels similar yet everything is foreign now, and Jaehyun doesn’t like that. This town, these people, they’re supposed to be his home, the place he knows better than any other. Yet it feels wrong. Like he’s not welcome in secrecy anymore.

Ignoring his thoughts, Jaehyun focuses on Yukhei, who took several steps forwards, entering the circle entirely. Kunhang steps a few feet in front of him, growling under his breath, a warning to Jaehyun. A warning to tell him to behave.

The tension is so thick Jaehyun can’t hear the forest anymore, only the beating of his heart and the blood burning in his veins. Yukhei stares back at him, eyes dark and immobile, a challenge dancing in them. Everyone is looking at him, tensed and ready to jump at any moment. But Jaehyun isn’t here to start a war, nor fight anyone. This he keeps for later, when the right moment comes.

His personal issues aren’t what he needs to care about right now.

“No one is killing anyone tonight” Ten says, looking at Jaehyun “Enemies sometimes need to fight for a common goal”

Jaehyun feels his body shiver, his magic growling in his chest, ready to fly out of him and into the void, destructive. Turning his hands into fists, he breathes deeply. The scent of wisteria gets to him, sign of Jaemin walking to him. Is it to calm him down or push him more into his magical destruction, Jaehyun doesn’t know, but either way, the old witch doesn’t give him access to his head.

“We’re not the killer ones here” Jaemin says, the undertone of a whisper rolling down his tongue.

Jaehyun feels him behind his back, like a snake moving around. Placing himself a couple of centimetres up front from the rest of the witches, Jaemin smirks, eyes plastered on Ten.

“Allow me to doubt that” Kunhang speaks, his first words since the beginning of the night. Jaemin’s attention turns to him then, smirk still in place, eyes sparkling more intensively.

“Allow me to rephrase, then” the young witch says, his scent flying all around him “We’re not the ones killing out of pleasure and boredom”

It’s silence for a moment, vampires and witches standing completely still among the trees. The forest watches them before lashing out a small breath of wind, forcing Jaehyun to close his eyes, witnessing the colors’ movements under his lids. 

“Please” he hears Doyoung say, voice almost weak, almost tired “We didn’t come here to fight. At least I know I didn't”.

Turning to the youngest, he blinks away the tiredness. “If you want to kill each other, I’m asking you to do it where my eyes can’t see”

Jaemin doesn’t let go of Kunhang’s eyes, but his magic retreats back inside of him, his scent disappearing from Jaehyun’s nostrils. Breathing in slow and careful, Jaehyun opens his eyes again, letting them fall down on Yukhei. The vampire’s eyes didn’t leave his side for a second.

“You babies will have all the time in the world to kill each other when all of this is over” Ten takes over, voice strangely neutral.

And it feels like the tension goes away, even just the slightest. They all know why they’re here for, all know this isn’t a joke they can brush away on the side.

Jaehyun doesn’t listen much of what’s being said after this, only focusing his mind on the songs the forest offers them. Offers him. Listening to the sounds is a subtill work Jaehyun came to master after years of painful patience and determination. Determination to understand not only the source of his powers, but himself. His place and meaning in all of this.

The forest sings of stars and movements, of waters and invisible steps curved in its ground. It sings of birds and deers, of wolves running and centaurs burying themselves under rocks, trying to escape the pain of silver against their skin. The forest sings the tales of fairies turned into plants at the trees’ feet, wiped out of everyone’s minds and books.

It sings of lovers being turned apart as their clans sing in unison for their blood to never merge together. It sings the pain of losing its child, but having him come back to it. The forest sings louder when Jaehyun opens his eyes to face the center of the clearing, heart beating and tears falling down his face. The pain in his chest, too familiar, forces him to stop breathing for a time. Jaehyun tries to refocus, to forget, bury already dead memories.

“Jaehyun?” he hears, Doyoung taking a step towards him. “What did the forest tell you?” he whispers, his magic encircling him gently, calming his mind.

Jaehyun doesn’t really know what the forest tried to tell him. Fears to understand it, to be forced to see the source. So he shakes his head, clears his face from any reminding tears.

“It simply sang to me” Jaehyun speaks, his voice hoarse, tired from hundreds of lives. “It sang of the past and the future”

“What’s the meaning of this?” Ten asks, sincere interest in his eyes, hostility gone.

“It means that the future isn’t what we should fear, but the past, instead”

Wind comes to him, dancing in his hair, like a thank you, before vanishing in the air.

“Doyoung” Jaehyun hears Chenle say, on his right “We need to go”

The terror dancing in his voice makes Jaehyun’s hair stand on his arms. Turning his eyes to the young witch, Jaehyun watches as Chenle stares at the tree a few meters away. Trees are all there is to see for his eyes, yet Chenle’s body reeks of fear and survival instincts, shaking.

“We need to go” he repeats, taking a step back. Jaemin takes Chenle’s hands then, staring at the void in front of them, shielding Chenle from something no one else can perceive. Doyoung nods at the words, allowing the two young witches to leave.

“Go ahead, the meeting is almost done anyways”

As they walk away from the circle, Jaehyun stares at Chenle’s back, his white hair bouncing around his head, wondering if the younger's affliction impairs him the same way Jaehyun’s own does. He wonders if one day, for both of them, freedom will come. 

“We’ll put more barriers around the city” Doyoung says after a couple of seconds, turning his body to the vampires again “Make more potions and jewellery for you, as well”

Witches and vampires will take rounds protecting the city. By pairs of three, witches will deal with threats during the day. By pairs of two, vampires will deal with threats at night. Barriers will be put up by sunrise, allowing them to know if any unwelcome runes enter their territory. It’s a common agreement, and Jaehyun feels his heart constrict. His body still remembers the times species would cohabit in relative peace together to keep humans away from them, keep hunters under the ground.

This is something he never thought he would witness again, and Ten feels the same, if the way his body tenses and his eyes flicker to Jaehyun from time to time are any valuable indication.

They both know things others in this circle don’t, and Jaehyun isn’t pleased with the risk that they will, sooner than later, be forced to unearth the past.

Witches and vampires part ways after the forest sings its last song of the night, as owls start to go back into their tree and birds’ shadows mark the ground.

Jaehyun glances at clearing one last time before stepping back, eyes burning the back of his head, having his magic pleading for the freedom to fly.

As he steps out of the forest, up in the hills, Jaehyun stills. Looks at the grass dancing with the wind, listens as the leaves sing to animals. An old ache awakes in his chest, deep inside his heart, and his hand comes to smooth it through the layers of his clothes.

Smiling to himself, the sort of sad expression he only gives out in the safety of his house, he lets a single tear fall on his cheek. Looks at the stone on his left, covered in moss and small flowers. He looks at this stone as old as him, words engraved in it, and wishes for it to vanish, taking the memories away and far, far, far.

-

_His heart is in pain._

_That’s the first thing he notices when he opens his eyes in the morning. Pain in his heart like it’s been ripped apart. Caring his hand to his chest, he massages it, trying to smooth the pain, but it only gets worse as time passes. He doesn’t know why he feels pain, suddenly. Doesn’t know the reason but wishes for it to stop._

_It gets worse as he eats breakfast, as he gets out of his house and walks toward the village. The pain gets so bad he falls on his knees, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes._

_Out. He needs out. Right away._

_He gets up, panting, sweat falling from his forehead. Hand still on his heart, he trails himself toward the forest, out of the village. As he walks, his eyes catch the silent fall of a snowflake, the first one of the year. And he screams. Screams like he never screamed before and never thought he would._

_His body is on fire, burning from the inside, ravaging everything, making him shake, shake, shake, so much he can’t walk. Simply fall on the ground to cry and exhale the pain out._

_“Away” he hears screams behind him “Get away!”_

_Not waiting, he grovels his way out, up in the hills. The pain stops then, at the gates of the forest, on the other side of the barrier that surrenders the village. He can’t breathe, can’t see, can’t do anything else than collapse on the ground, trying to catch as much air as he can._

_He doesn’t know how long he stays there, on the ground, snow lazily falling on him. All he knows is that his heart is not beating yet aching for something nameless. Looking back, he sees his mother, on her knees, tears silently falling on her cheeks. Whining, he uses the last bit of strength he can gather to move towards her, but the pain comes back as soon as his hand passes the barrier._

_He screams again, backing away, to the safety of the forest. His mother is still crying, hands covering her mouth in a silent plea._

_“Mom” he cries, staring at her through his tears, not understanding what’s happening to him._

_“You need to go away” she tells him “For everyone’s sake”_

_Sobbing, he shakes his head. He doesn’t want to go. Where is he supposed to go? He has nothing, nowhere to go except this place. No one else to turn to._

_“Go” his mother tells him again “And find the one that did that to you. Only he can break it”_

-

The moon is full when Yukhei comes to him.

Jaehyun is waiting for him at the kitchen table, a glass of wine rolling between two fingers. He feels him more than he hears him, but the shivers on the back of his neck can’t lie to him. Yukhei is standing still at the door, eyes fixed on him, complete silence surrounding them. Taking a lazy sip of his wine, Jaehyun closes his eyes.

“Have a drink” he says, his voice bouncing against the walls.

He hears Yukhei move, this time, but he doesn’t let his eyes wander away from the liquid dancing in his glass. Red, dark, strong. Aged like Jaehyun likes it. Yukhei sits opposite him, dark clothes lazily moving around his figure. He’s dressed like an old fashion man, and Jaehyun smiles to himself. Yukhei’s always been nostalgic and fond of his medieval clothes he refuses to throw away. Too many memories, he says.

Moving the empty glass he prepared for him, in advance, Jaehyun pours a fair amount of wine in it. Gives it to Yukhei, the glass ripping against the wood. Yukhei takes it in hand, makes it turn before taking a small sip. They stay in silence for a time, Yukhei’s eyes never leaving his face, Jaehyun’s own staring at the void.

The night is cold and howls sing but Jaehyun can’t put his mind elsewhere than here, in this kitchen, sitting in front of Yukhei. And it feels weird, being near him again. It feels weird and foreign, like meeting with someone you cared about and fought with. What are you supposed to say? What are you supposed to talk about? Jaehyun isn’t sure if they should talk at all, not after so many years apart. It’s always been like this, with Yukhei. Always on edge, always close to this fear that something is going to blow up at any second.

“You haven’t change” comes Yukhei’s voice, making Jaehyun smirks. Taking another sip, he moves his eyes up, slowly. Stares at Yukhei for a second before talking.

“Neither did you”

They don’t talk about it. The immortality. The curse. Because it brings too much pain, too many memories both of them wished they didn’t have, or could forget. They play around it instead. Try to ease the tension they both feel on their shoulders, at the back of their heads.

“You’ve been gone for a long time” Yukhei speaks again, voice low, eyes burning. Jaehyun doesn’t look away.

“Eighty years is a blink of an eye for us” Jaehyun answers, nonchalant, because it is the truth. For them who lived millennials, a couple of years aren’t anything else than a short vacation. 

“Doesn’t mean I didn’t feel them” the sincerity in Yukhei’s voice makes Jaehyun blinks, body shifting, tension growing. Biting the inside of his cheek, he chooses to ignore it.

“Why have you come here?” Jaehyun wonders, the magic in him flaming, ready to be unleashed.

The way Yukhei looks at him, closed off but so transparent at the same time makes Jaehyun’s mind spin. It spins at the realisation he came to know Yukhei so well the mask doesn’t hide anything anymore. It is not new, that knowledge. It happens every time they meet again, every time they look at each other, every time Jaehyun comes to think of Yukhei. And it burns.

“You know why” the whisper makes its way to his ears and makes them ring, so, so loud Jaehyun isn’t sure if he’ll be able to hear anything that comes next.

Jaehyun gets up then. Slowly, because he feels like his legs will break under him if he moves too quickly. And just as slowly, he walks out the room. Walks towards the stairs, not looking back. Yukhei appears in front of him seconds later, blocking his way. His eyes are darker than they were in the kitchen, Jaehyun can see it, even in the darkness of the night.

“Don’t run away from me” Yukhei murmurs to him, and Jaehyun doesn’t know if the expression on his face is pain or anger. Maybe it’s both. Maybe Jaehyun wears the same expression on his face, maybe he feels the same way Yukhei is feeling right now. Overwhelmed. Undecided. Expecting something neither of them are ready to voice at loud.

And Jaehyun is shaking, he realises. His entire body shivers at their proximity, at the way Yukhei stares at him like he’s on the way to die, at the way his fingers are burning to do something. Anything.

They stay like this for a long time, it feels like. Just standing in front of the stairs, eyes locked, bodies dying for contact. Jaehyun’s magic is fierce inside of him, battling its way out. Jaehyun doesn’t let it, too afraid of what it could cost him. Cost them. He still remembers the time he lashed out, still remembers how he let his magic take over both of them and how it nearly killed Yukhei, in its euphoria.

“Don’t run away” Yukhei says again, taking a step forward. They’re not touching but Jaehyun’s hair stand on his arms, anticipating. It’s getting too much, suddenly, Jaehyun feeling oppressed under Yukhei’s eyes. But it’s not bad. On the contrary. It feels great, so great, too great. And Jaehyun is ready to collapse into Yukhei the moment he feels his breath on his left cheek, the tip of Yukhei’s nose barely caressing his skin. Fuck, he thinks. Fuck.

Jaehyun is shaking, breath jerking, when he finally moves. Lets his head lean to the right, catching Yukhei’s lips with his. It’s like an explosion, all the sensations Jaehyun is experiencing right away. His magic spiral, tries to jerk away from him, sending fire to his fingers and toes and stomach. Jaehyun lets it, for a short time, get away from him, thin blue dust enveloping them.

And Yukhei moans, the dust entering him, his breath jerking. Jaehyun doesn’t let him back off when the other tries to take a breath. No, he takes his face in between his two hands and jerks him back on him, on his lips. It’s desperate, the way they kiss. Desperate, and too much teeth and sloppy tongues but they don’t pay attention to that.

Jaehyun is pushed against the railing and he groans at the sudden pain on his back. Yukhei doesn’t stop kissing him. Doesn’t stop biting at his lips, doesn’t stop his hands traveling along Jaehyun’s figure, to his neck, to his waist until they end up at his ass he squeezes, forcing Jaehyun to meet his body, not really bumping but enough to make him groan under his breath.

There isn’t any anticipation left. It’s all brutal need and desire to touch and be touched and feel and be felt. Jaehyun wants so much more than this, so much more than clothed bodies and messy kisses. He wants Yukhei’s naked body above him, the coldness helping him stay focused. He wants to relearn what he forgot when he went away. The hard feeling of Yukhei’s abs under his fingers, the cold sensation of his body against his burning own, the pleasure Yukhei’s teeth give him when he bites at his neck.

_Take me to bed_ , Jaehyun thinks, eyes closed, head thrown back, making more space for Yukhei to play with the sensitive skin there. _Take me._

When he opens his eyes again, seconds later, they’re in his room. Yukhei’s already topless, his torso going up and down quickly, only proof that all of this is affecting him as much as it affects Jaehyun. Seeing his vampire like this makes Jaehyun smiles to himself. The irony of seeing his torso moving like he actually needed to breath has always been an inside joke of theirs.

He stops smiling when Yukhei falls down on him, eyes black from lust and hunger. Jaehyun’s body shivers yet again when his bare hands enter in contact with his torso. It feels wrong to be clothed now, Jaehyun feeling stuffy. It takes some time but they get there. They get to be naked entirely, arms and legs being tossed around, agitation having them vibrating.

When they see each other like this, pale and naked and full of explosive desires, time seems to stop. They stare and stare and stare, dark eyes into sparkling ones and Jaehyun can’t keep this up, can’t have Yukhei not touching him anymore. So they stare and stare and stare until Jaehyun pushes himself up, grabs Yukhei’s neck and forces him down on him.

The kiss they share isn’t as brutal as the precious ones, but he’s just as desperate. Deep and hurting, like a hand enveloping Jaehyun’s heart and squeezing until it explodes between its fingers. Jaehyun thinks it would feel like this, if he still had a heart.

“Have you been with anyone else?” comes Yukhei’s voice, like a growl, face hiding under his jaw.

Jaehyun smiles at the ceiling, eyes close, body burning from the cold around him. He grips at Yukhei’s hair, arms enlacing him with more strength. It gives him the impression of control, of power over something so much more potent than him.

“You think I would spend eighty years of my life on my own?” he teases, eyes half closed by then but sparkly still, amusement and lust dancing in them “Come on Yukhei, you know me better than that, don’t you?”

He laughs when he hears Yukhei growl, laughs more when the vampire gets away from him, eyes a mix of red and black, canines halfway out. They haven’t done anything else but kiss and touch, touch, touch, regaining the space time stole away from them for so long, and yet Jaehyun feels like losing his mind. Like his body isn’t his for the time being, euphoria slowly taking over his senses.

“I do” Yukhei says, eyes betraying him, even with all the blood in them. “I do”

Jaehyun knows that. Jaehyun knows Yukhei has access to every part of his soul, every part he desperately hides from the rest of the world. And it terrifies him. It terrifies him to acknowledge he let himself fall into the same trap again, after and _despite_ everything. Euphoria takes over him and Jaehyun lets him, because it’s safer than letting the past have the reins.

“Prove it” he whispers in Yukhei’s ears, once he has him close again, lips caressing the junction of his jaw, his cheekbone, the bridge of his nose “Prove me how much you know me”

Vulnerability, Jaehyun came to learn, is just as good as it is dangerous. Vulnerability, from Jaehyun’s experience, teaches you how to survive.

Jaehyun survived immortality because he let himself be vulnerable to himself. He let himself cry at the loss of everything and everyone he ever had and loved. He let himself be happy again, long after that. Jaehyun let himself feel things in order not to turn, not to become everything his teaching chastised.

And as Yukhei opens him up slowly, veneration in his eyes, Jaehyun thanks himself for allowing vulnerability to take such a strong place in his powers. 

“Have you missed me?” he asks Yukhei, a moan escaping his mouth at the sensation of fingers going in and out of him, making his body vibrate. “Have you?”

“I always do”

Jaehyun’s chest flutters at the words, eyes closed. As much of a game this is, the reassurance he gets from Yukhei always makes him feel safer, lighter. It’s a dangerous game, especially for him who knows the consequences of what they’re doing. What they’re feeling. But he needs it. Need the pain knowledge brings him.

He fell again, on his own, and he did it with open arms. Would do it endlessly, if he had to.

“I missed your skin” Yukhei murmurs in his ears “I missed your touch, I missed your attitude”. Kissing him deeply, pressing his body even more against Jaehyun’s, Yukhei lets his fangs grow completly “I missed your fucking voice”

It’s not sweet when Yukhei penetrates him. It’s not sweet and slow, like it is sometimes. It’s hard and painful, too deep too soon, but Jaehyun takes it. Jaehyun takes it and more, asks for more of Yukhei around him, surrounding him, having him at his mercy. He loses some of his grip on his powers, allowing it to fly out of his mouth and chest, pouncing on Yukhei, forcing him to lose balance in his arms.

Jaehyun moans at every thrust of Yukhei’s hips, at the sensation of his cold torso against his neglected sex, at the fluttering touches of fangs against the thin skin of his neck. Jaehyun craves it, craves for Yukhei’s bite, the pain and relief that comes with it. He craves it, been craving it for almost a century now, and if he doesn’t get it soon his body will morph into something dangerous. For the both of them.

So Jaehyun cracks his neck open, more, more, more until it hurts and his Adam's apple bobs on his own at how exposed it is. Yukhei fucks into him restlessly, body shaking under the pressure of restraining himself. Fucks into him like a desperate man, groans escaping his mouth freely, having Jaehyun’s mind and body go slack in the other man’s arms.

“Yukhei” Jaehyun murmurs, out of breath.

“Yes, my love” Yukhei whispers back, desperate in the way he looks up at him.

“Bite me” Jaehyun moans, eyes turning black, his pupils disappearing “Please”

Yukhei lets out a cry that resonates in Jaehyun’s body like an explosion, Jaehyun crying back in response. It’s not sweet when Yukhei bites him, fangs breaking the skin, enabling blood to flow down his clavicles, down his back, down Yukhei’s open mouth. It’s painful, fangs breaking every fibre on their way to his veins and Jaehyun loves it so much, so, so much he thinks he starts crying, his magic exploding out of him.

The room turns blue and dusty, the smell of chrysanthemum almost suffocating, but none of them care, none of them take notice. All they can see and feel and touch are each other, their minds interlinked in one another, their thoughts forming one unique path, their memories collapsing. The tattoo on both their chest glows a bright yellow, exposing their bodies to the rest of the world.

And Jaehyun sees stars, his body convulsing under the force of his orgasm, soon followed by Yukhei.

Jaehyun, at the back of his mind, hears his familiar chant at the moon, a cry so long it breaks the peace of the night. And out the window, into the dark sky, a bird carries the body of a man Jaehyun knows nothing about.

-

_He finds him under the teeth of a monster. He finds his way to redemption eighty years later, covered in blood, eyes ajar, mouth leaking blood out._

_He finds his tormentor dead and sucked out, snow falling on his newly decomposed body._

_He loses his only way out of the hell his life became under a bloody smile and sharp teeth, eyes red and black, hunger and death happily mixed together._

_He kills the monster that stole his freedom and jumps out of the mountain, screaming his devastation out, out, out into the abyss of the world._

_He dies only to wake up stronger than he ever wished to be. He dies only to be completely alone, buried and forgotten under the ground._

_He’s found again when the earth allows someone else to enter its secret, showing him the light on the other side._

-

In the morning, when Jaehyun awakes, the first thing he sees is a raven at his window, gloomy eyes fixed on his body. Smoke slowly rising in the back.

Yukhei moves soon enough, his arms circling Jaehyun’s waist, torso flushed against his back. They stay silent for a time, both looking at the smoke getting bigger, darker. Then Yukhei leaves butterfly kisses on his neck, cold lips making him shiver.

Closing his eyes, Jaehyun lets himself drift in the sunlight, in the small kisses on his body, the coldness Yukhei’s body offers him. For the last time, Jaehyun takes joy out of small things he knows he won’t be able to have, maybe ever again. The words leave his lips as Yukhei bites at his neck, drinking his last sip.

“It has begun”

-

_The world is ending_

_Come and join us_

_At the fall_

_To death, to death, to death you go_

**Author's Note:**

> you can hit me up on twitter : @__babybird_


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